Emily - (Old German) industrious; (Latin) winning spirit, filled with happiness.Anne - (Hebrew) grace, graceful one; faithfully devoted. St. Anne is the mother of the Blessed Virgin Mother. And, we have several generations of Ann's in our family on my dad's side: Anna was my dad's mom's mom, my dad's sister and my Godmother is Aunt(ie) Ann, and my sister's middle name is Ann.
What can I say? Eats, sleeps, poops! Let's just say that I've typed most of these posts today with one hand. ;)
Emily is a delight. She eats well and is definitely a sleepyhead! When we went to the 2 week check up, she had already gained almost a pound since leaving the hospital!
The birth was an interesting experience . . . it was probably the most difficult of the three. Moreso emotionally than physically. My water broke at 3 o'clock in the morning (just like the other 2!), and we headed to the hospital pretty much right away, since Vinny had been born so quickly (6 1/2 hours). We arrived around 4:45 a.m. My contractions never came quickly or regularly until about 2 p.m. Keep in mind she was born at 2:35 p.m.! Around noon, our midwife Diane decided it would be a good idea to give me a mineral solution by IV to give both Emily & I a boost of energy and keep me hydrated. I guess all the little snacks we snuck in weren't doing enough. ;)
The labor was difficult over the course of the morning, not due to the strength of the contractions, but the way it was all dragging on. I felt like I was doing something wrong and that she should have been born very quickly. Nick did a great job of rubbing my back and talking to me to help me relax through each contraction. At some point, Diane did a second exam and found that she was positioned sideways a little and that was why the contractions were not doing much to get her out. She decided to go rest a little while we continued on. While she was gone, things picked up, but it was still confusing for me: sometimes I felt the need to relax during contractions [the 1st stage of labor - dilation - is when you relax through them, using the Bradley Method] and sometimes I felt the need to push [2nd stage of labor - pushing during contractions]. I guess no one realized I was in Transition. ;)
So, at 2:30, Diane came back in. She was starting to get concerned since my water had broken nearly 12 hours before, and the hospitals have policies regarding that. She didn't have to worry long, because while they were all bustling about and talking, I was pushing the baby out. During one contraction, I pushed twice without anyone noticing . . . then I swore (which I won't put here on the blog) and said, "I think I just pushed the baby out." Sure enough, her head was already out. She got stuck in the crack in the bed and all the sheets and gown, so Diane had to reposition us quickly. Soon, the rest of Emily was out, too. Diane said, "What is it?" to Nick, who proudly announced, "It's a girl!" I couldn't believe it. I thought for sure we were having a boy. We were so thrilled!!!
The recovery for all of us has gone fairly well. It took about 5 days for the nursing to really catch on. Emily was able to latch okay, but she would immediately fall asleep! (This was reminiscent of the start-up with Ashley.) Now, she nurses great. She nurses about 7-8 times a day for about 15-30 min each time. And she sleeps pretty well -- she'll take a 3 hour nap each day, usually 2:30 - 5:30 p.m., and another 1 1/2 hour in the morning, and some other cat naps here and there. At night, I do a "dream feed" at 10 p.m.-ish and she'll wake once or twice overnight to eat. Sometimes she'll go 6 hours, other times only 3. Nick takes over for me when she doesn't go right back to sleep. (Thank you!!)
The "big" kids enjoy her, too. They get in her face and talk and sing to her. It's free entertainment -- well, I guess not quite free. We all read stories when Emily nurses and they play together on their own, if I need to get her to sleep.
Overall, we've been so blessed with these little munchkins. Guess we'll just keep plugging along everyday!
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